Songs and musician credits at the end.
Composer Sunny M R – who has composed for pretty much all of director Sudheer Varma’s movies starting from Swamy Ra Ra where both of them debuted in their respective trades – does just one song for Ranarangam that is already the most popular track online. Not surprising, really – Pilla Picture Perfect is a very catchy dance track that occasionally reminds one of songs in the same genre by his mentor Pritam (most of which Sunny is likely to have assisted him in), and even featuring on vocals a person who Pritam has employed multiple times, Nikhita Gandhi. Really liked the use of live wind instruments (Omkar Dhumal) in a dominantly electronic setting, around that title hook. Singer-turned-composer Karthik Rodriguez does two songs for the album, one of which is again a dance piece. Kummeyra too is built on an electronic base, but with a generous smattering of quirky folk elements imparting it a kuthu flavour. Rodriguez himself leads the vocals, and competently so. The composer ups the wackiness and inventiveness in his second offering that he sings again, Kannu Kotti. The only low lights of the song are its length, lasting just over 2.5 minutes, and the rapping in the interlude that seems poorly written.
Rest of the album goes to Prashant Pillai, debuting as composer in Telugu (random trivia: Pillai composed for a movie called Andhra Mess back in 2015, but that was in Tamil – his solo debut in Tamil as a matter of fact) – just with song composing though, as per wiki, Pillai did the background score for Varma’s 2017 movie Keshava. And in his first, Seetha Kalyanam, he produces a wonderfully immersive piece around the traditional wedding-related composition. Sreehari K is in splendid form delivering this one, complemented equally well by the harmonies in the backdrop from Bhadra Rajin, Anna Baby and Radhika Narayanan. The melodic progression and arrangement (loved the use of O K Gopi’s naadaswaram) at times took my mind back to Pillai’s own brilliant Manogatham Bhavan from Anuraga Karikkin Vellam. The man delivers yet another winner in Evaro Evaro, a haunting melody that is treated to a sweeping orchestration, highlighted by the spectacular use of Rajesh Cherthala’s flute, featured almost as prominently in the song as Preeti Pillai’s voice – it is a pity that hardly anyone aside of Prashant appears to employ the singer.
Ranarangam. Highly engaging soundtrack from the three composers – and the year is looking good for Prashant Pillai already, with the OST of Unda and now this.
Music Aloud Rating: 3.5/5
Top Recos: Evaro Evaro, Seetha Kalyanam, Kannu Kotti
Musician Credits
Seetha Kalyanam
Singer – Sreehari K
Lyricist – Balaji
Composer – Prashant Pillai
Backing Singers : Bhadra Rajin,, Anna Baby, Radhika Narayanan
Music Programmers : Sreerag S, Rakesh S
Nadaswaram : O.K.Gopi
Mixed and Mastered by Vivek Thomas
Recording Studio : My Studio, Kochi
Recording Engineers : Sai P, Akshay K
Kummeyra
Singer – Karthik Rodriguez
Lyricist – Krishna Chaitanya
Composer – Karthik Rodriguez
Flutes and trumpets : Sarat
Percussions: Kiran, Raju
Composed, arranged and programmed by Karthik Rodriguez
Guitars and mandolin: Karthik
Music co-ordinator: Sarat
Recording engineers: prasad Trinity studios chennai, bhanu jubilee 10 studios (hyd),
Pilla Picture Perfect
Singer – Nikhita Gandhi
Lyricist – Krishna Chaitanya
Composer – Sunny M.R.
Shehnai and Winds – Omkar Dhumal
Music Composed, arranged and Produced by Sunny M.R.
Mixed & Mastered by Shadab Rayeen (New Edge)
Assistant to Shadab – Abhishek Sortey & Dhananjay Khapekar
Sunny M.R. uses UAD powered plugins
Kannu Kotti
Singer – Karthik Rodriguez
Lyricist – Krishna Chaitanya
Composer – Karthik Rodriguez
Flutes: Sarat
Arranged and programmed: Karthik Rodriguez
Mixed by Shadab and karthik Rodriguez
Mastered by Shadab
Recorded at 20db studios, chennai.
Recording engineers: Elwin joseph(20dbstudios) Bhanu (jubilee 10studios, hyderabad)
Evaro Evaro
Singer – Preeti Pillai
Lyricist – Krishna Chaitanya
Composer – Prashant Pillai
Music Assistants & Additional Programmers :Sreerag Saji,
Rakesh R, Albin Mathew,
Nadaswaram : O.k . Gopi
Flute : Rajesh C
Mixing And Mastering :Vivek Thomas
Recording Engineers : Sai Prakash, Akshay K
Recording Studio : My Studio, Kochi
